It is becoming more common to use lasers to perform various surgical techniques. As is well known, the radiation from such lasers must be confined to the operative area, however, it is equally well known that it is difficult, if not impossible, to prevent the occurence of stray radiation in the operating rooms. Operating room personnel have begun wearing protective eye glasses and patients undergoing such procedures have been provided moistened gauze over the eyes, More recently, a surgical eye mask has been developed to protect the patient's eyes during laser surgery, see U.S. patent application Ser. No. 661,120.
The need for better protection for both the patient and the operating personnel during laser surgery has become apparent. The patient may be injured by direct exposure to the beam on the skin causing burns or flesh wounds or opthalmic injury or loss of vision if the eyes were to become accidentally exposed. The patient is highly at risk during the anesthesia, if such is a general anesthesia, since the patient is unable to alert the surgical personnel of the occurence of an injury. The current use of wet towels is not a satisfactory method, because the sterile plastic sheet below the towels can be ignited by the laser beam, bacterial contamination may occur when plastic sheets are not used, and there is a potential of fire from towels which have not been remoistened during the operative procedure.
The problems encountered by patients are also encountered by the operating room personnel, but to a much lesser extent. The operating room personnel to some extent can avoid continued contact from the beam by stepping out of its path or alerting the user. Nevertheless, it is not always possible to remove oneself from the path of the beam and even short exposures may cause injury.
Another problem encountered is the exposure of the anesthesia machine and circuits to the laser radiation. The anesthesia circuit often lies near the operative field, especially during neurosurgery or during ENT surgery. Typically, these circuits have been wrapped in aluminum foil to deflect the stray radiation. However, such wrapping prevents the anesthesiologist from observing these circuits. Further, aluminum foil is very difficult to work with, especially around the endotracheal tube.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a surgical shield to protect patients, operating room personnel, and anesthesia circuit/machines during laser surgery. It is a further object of the invention to provide a shield for anesthesia circuits which provides a snug fit over the circuit but also affords the anesthesiologist an easier means to view of the circuits during the operation.